The Dark Princess
by efemanatepixie
Summary: Something's happening to Vince's eyes, and Howard and Naboo are unsure of what it is or how to sort it out. Slight VincexOC later on.
1. The Nightmare

**This story's a bit surreal, I started it ages ago and then forgot about it. Please review with any improvement tips. I own none of the characters.**

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Vince was having a nightmare. He was sitting in a throne, dressed in Victorian clothing. He was in a long hall, in front of a huge crowd of people. He shouted "Next!" and a person came up to face him. He opened his eyes wide and stared at the man in front of him. The man instantly buried his head in his hands, and then, sobbing, handed over a huge diamond. This happened again and again, until he was shaken awake by Howard.

"Are you alright, Vince? You look a bit pale." Howard asked, concerned.

"I just had a horrible nightmare." Vince said, shuddering. "I was making people give me jewels by staring at them."

Howard looked confused. "That's not so bad." Vince stared at him.

"They were all really poor and I was taking all of their valuables!" He said, shivering slightly.

"Well, it was just a dream. Come on, let's open up shop." Howard walked towards the door.

"Can I have the day off? I feel a bit sick." Vince asked, his voice shaking.

Howard thought for a minute. "Alright, fine." He said, then jumped back abruptly when Vince leant over the side of his bed and started to vomit. "I'll get you a bucket." He told him, as he went through the door.

Vince fell back onto his pillow, shaking. "I feel awful." He thought to himself. "I wonder what's up with me? I know, I'll ask Naboo about it."

Howard came back with a big stainless steel bucket. "Here you go." He said, putting the bucket by Vince's bed. "I'll tell Naboo why - what's wrong with your eyes?"

"What?" Vince asked, confused. "Why would anything be wrong with my eyes?" He snapped. Illness always made him snappy.

"Uh…I don't know." Howard said carefully, like he was trying not to upset Vince any more. "They just don't look …normal. I'll go open up shop." He left the room quickly.

Vince climbed out of his bed, unsure of his strength. He fell over immediately. "Bloody hell…" he muttered as he crawled towards the mirror.

He looked at his usually perfect reflection. He was as white as snow but it was his eyes that pulled his attention. They were still blue, to a certain extent. There were thin silver swirls twisting around the pupils like snakes and minuscule sparks of colour, like fireworks, in the whites. The sparks were very quick, there only for a split second. They were all the colours he could name and more. The blue his eyes normally were was dimmer, as though there were clouds in his eyes.

Vince gawped at his reflection for a minute before murmuring "That's impossible." and collapsing onto the floor.


	2. The Hypnosis

**Note: I own nothing apart from The Dark Princess.**

"Wonder what's wrong with Vince?" Naboo thought to himself, as he carried his potion case up to Vince and Howard's shared room. "I hope it's not too serious. Potion ingredients don't come cheap and the more serious the illness, the more ingredients I need to use."

He knocked on the door. "Vince? Are you awake?" He said loudly.

There was no reply. He opened the door to find Vince, ghostly pale, collapsed in the middle of the floor.

"Right." Naboo said to himself. He got a doctor's thermometer out of the case. He opened Vince's mouth gently and put it on his tongue. The red line doubled the room temperature. "Ok, Vince? Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Howard." Vince muttered, eyes closed.

"Vince, it's Naboo, not Howard. How are you feeling?" Naboo asked clearly.

"Awful. Can I go to bed, Naboo?" Vince asked, his voice wavering.

"I'll make you some medicine first." Naboo told him. "Can you open your eyes?"

Vince lay still for a minute, then slowly opened his eyes.

"Wow, Vince? What happened to your eyes?" Naboo asked him, looking at Vince's eyes with much interest.

"I've no idea." Vince said, groaning. "Can you help me?"

"I'll try." Naboo said. "Right, if I put powdered cloud in unicorn tears, mixed with essence of dawn, that should diagnose the problem at least."

"I didn't't know you were a doctor, Johnny Two-Hats." Vince said to Naboo.

"Oh dear, he's delirious. Vince, I'm still Naboo, ok?" Naboo told him.

Ten minutes on, and Naboo's diagnosis potion failed to find anything. Naboo made him a basic potion that clears most common illnesses.

"I'm alright now, more or less." Vince said, sipping the medicine Naboo had made him. "It's just my eyes that are wrong."

"Yeah, that's a mystery." Naboo agreed. "Why don't you live life as normal and hope it goes away?"

"OK, I'll do that." Vince said. "Have you seen my straighteners?"

"That's normal, all right." Naboo thought to himself, as he passed Vince the blessed Nicky Clarke's.

"Vince seems pretty much back to normal now, but he's still refusing to help with the stocktaking." Howard thought as he walked up to the flat. "'sick leave' indeed."

He walked into the living room, where Vince was sitting on the sofa, sipping lemonade through a neon straw. "Vince," Howard began, but Vince cut across him.

"You're in front of the TV, and Colobus the Crab is just about to start." Vince said, irritated

"Look, Vince, why don't you get a doctor to look at your eyes?" Howard suggested.

"Nah, if Naboo can't fix it, no-one can. Can you get out of the way?" Vince replied, trying to look around Howard to see the TV.

"Vince, I'm serious." Howard said, blocking Vince's view of the TV completely.

"So am I." Vince said firmly. "Shift it."

He gave Howard a piercing stare, then Howard heard a voice in his head saying "Move now."

"Why, though?" A part of his brain asked.

"Because the Dark Princess commands you." The voice said, then Howard found himself with a headache so severe, it felt like his brain was being crushed under a heavy weight. He ran out of the room, with his head in his hands.

"What did I do?" Vince shouted, but Howard didn't reply.


	3. The Diagnosis

**Note: I own none of the characters apart from The Dark Princess.**

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"I've got to tell Naboo about this." Howard thought to himself. The headache was gone but he still remembered the stare Vince had given him. Tiny fireworks were going off in his eyes and silver swirls, prominent against the blue, were hypnotic. 'Dark Princess' that voice had said. This was stranger than he'd thought. He knocked on Naboo's door. "Get in here, Howard. I have to tell you something."

Howard opened the door. "How did you know it was me?" He asked.

"Well, Bollo's at the 'annual familiar conference' and Vince is watching Colobus the Crab. Who else could it be?" Naboo replied. "Anyway, I've been researching Vince's symptoms, and I can't find any record of this ever happening before. Do you think you could go and talk to Vince, see if anything weird happens?"

"I just talked to him and something weird did happen." Howard told him. "I was in the way of the TV and Vince told me to move and gave me a piercing stare. A voice in my head said for me to move too. When I asked it why, it said 'because the Dark Princess commands you', then I got a horrible headache, worse than I've ever witnessed."

Naboo thought for a second. "That's some kind of demon, I think. We have to banish it through a ritual. The problem is there are different rituals for different demons, and we don't know what demon it is." He started rifling through a pile of boxes. "I've got an Identification amulet somewhere. If Vince wears it, the colour the gem turns indicates the kind of demon."

"What is it with you and amulets? You've got loads." Howard commented, but he helped look for it anyway. He didn't want to lose his best friend to a demon.

After a minute's searching, Naboo found a box wrapped in velvet.

"I've found it!" He exclaimed, opening the box carefully. Inside there was a beautiful amulet, it was a large clear jewel encased in silver, which glittered in the dim light.

"We'll have no problem getting Vince to wear this." Howard said, smiling.

Colobus the Crab was just finishing when Howard re-entered the living room, carrying the amulet.

"Hey Vince, I've got a present for you." He handed him the amulet.

"Oh, cool! Thanks Howard, this is genius!" He slipped it around his neck. The gem glowed jet black. Howard sprinted back to Naboo.

"It turned black." He panted. Naboo's eyes widened.

"Oh no, this is not good."

"What is it? Tell me!" Howard started panicking.

"Vince's bed is by the window isn't it?" When Howard nodded, Naboo sighed. "Make sure Vince stays away from any windows or any way outside."

"Why? Tell me what's going on!" Howard demanded.

"Vince has fallen victim to the Dark Princess of the Sky."


	4. The Kidnap

**Yay, it's all getting exciting!! Enjoy :)**

**Note: I own nothing apart from the Dark Princess and her legend.**

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"What? The Dark Princess of the Sky?" Howard was lost for words.

"Yes. I think I've got a book of folklore somewhere, wait a min-" Naboo started but Howard cut over him.

"I'M NOT WAITING!" He shouted, standing up and overturning a pile of stuff.

"Calm down, shouting won't help," Naboo said calmly, searching through a pile of books. "Ah, found it." He heaved a huge hardback book down from a shelf. He flicked through the pages quickly.

"Hurry up Naboo, Vince is in danger!" Howard snapped impatiently.

"I know! Now look," He pointed to a cave drawing in the book. The picture showed a girl sitting on a cloudy blue throne covered in silver swirls inside a dark cloud. The girl was dressed in black with her eyes shut. There were many people around her, some sobbing, some collapsed in pain on the floor. Circling the air above this scene were crows with silver twirls on their wings.

"The legend says that the Dark Princess sends these birds," Naboo tapped the birds in the picture. "Down to Earth to capture humans for her. When the birds choose a human, they start the capture process. What they do is they shed feathers over the selected human, in this case, Vince, while he or she sleeps. When they awake, they have a small bit of the Princess's hypnotising power to enhance their happiness. Once they have reached the appropriate happiness level, the crows can take the human up to the Princess."

"But why?" Howard was nonplussed.

"Once she has the human, she transforms them. Not much on the outside, but she changes how the body works. The legend doesn't specify what she changes, but we can't let that happen."

"Why did you tell me to keep Vince away from outside?" Howard asked, starting to get to grips with what's happening.

"Because the crows cannot get very far indoors, so they can't capture Vince unless he's really happy and outside or near a window or door." Naboo explained.

"He was really happy when I gave him that amulet," Howard paused for a second. "Oh no. The kitchen window's open. Vince might go near it!" He dashed out of the room.

Naboo opened the cupboard and pulled out his magic carpet, some oxygen canisters and a space suit that he was going to put out in the shop. "Howard's going to need these." he said to himself.

Howard ran into the living room to find Vince walking towards the kitchen. "Vince! What are you doing?" he shouted.

"Getting myself some Vimto." Vince replied, heading towards the fridge, next to the open window.

"No! Don't!" Howard yelled, but Vince ignored him. As soon as he was within a meter of the window, a swarm of black feathers engulfed him.

"NO!!" Howard tried to reach into the feathers to retrieve Vince, but the thy were so thick, and the bird's beaks and talons were so sharp, Howard felt like they were ripping his arm off, so he pulled it out. It was covered in cuts and blood, so much blood that Howard felt faint. The crows flew out of the window, taking Vince with them. Howard collapsed to the floor, defeated. Vince was gone, and there was nothing Howard could do about it.


	5. The Transformation

**Yay! 2 reviews! Hope this satisfy's the readers.**

**Note: I own nothing apart from the Dark Princess, her story and the crows:), Bold=author's note**

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Vince was extremely confused to say the least. One minute, he manages to move Howard by staring at him, the next minute; crows come in and take him out into the sky. He decided to use his special gift to ask for answers.

"Excuse me?" He asked the crow nearest to his face. They were carrying him by his arms.

"What?" The crow replied, in an accent unknown to Vince.

"What's happening to me? Why did my eyes go weird? Was it something to do with that dream?"

"Ooh, you're the special one, you had the dream. You've been chosen by Her Highness. She wants you." The crow smiled, well as much as a crow can smile.

"Why?"

"Don't ask us. We don't know, we're just messengers." The crow turned his head and carried on flying.

Vince suddenly felt really tired, and he nodded off as the crows carried him through the sky.

***

Vince was still asleep when he and the crows arrived at the Dark Princess's rain cloud palace. They flew through the entry hall and straight to her Throne room, where she met all of her captures. She was waiting on her throne.

"I thought I told you the special one was male!" She snapped. Vince stirred and woke up.

"What's going on?" He murmured, his speech slurred from sleep.

"Oh he is a guy." The Princess realised. Vince looked at her. She barely looked over fifteen. She had long ruby-red hair and snowy-white skin. She was wearing a short skirt, jacket and t-shirt, all of which were the same colour as her hair, but what shocked Vince was that her eyes were jet-black, no whites or any definition of the pupil.

"Where am I?" He asked, trying to stand up, and failing.

"You're in my castle. Judging by your accent, I'd say you're a Londoner." She replied, smiling. Her teeth were shiny silver, like Vince's boots.

"Yeah, I am."

The Princess turned to the crows. "Well done boys, I think you've found the special one!" She clapped.

"Special one?!" Vince was getting quite scared. "I'm not special!"

"Did he have the dream?" She asked the crows. They nodded. "You're definitely the special one." She approached him.

"What are you gonna do to me?" Vince tried to shuffle away from her but he couldn't. She had paralysed him with fear.

"My father told me that I had to find the special one and make him my own so that the prophecy can be completed."

"W-what prophecy?" Vince stuttered. He had the feeling she was going to sacrifice him or something.

"I don't know. He died before he could tell me. But, I do know how to 'make you my own'." She moved closer to him.

"Please don't hurt me." Vince almost started crying.

"It's not gonna hurt. It's just a spell." The Princess shut her eyes and rubbed her hands together, muttering something under her breath. Vince shut his eyes, expecting the worst. He wished, more than anything, that this was just a dream, but he didn't think it was.

The Princess cupped her hands and blew into them. What looked like black and red glitter came blossoming from her palms and it twinkled around Vince. He floated into the air. His clothes started twinkling too. His pink sequined t-shirt and silver skinny jeans glimmered and changed into a scarlet dinner jacket over a black t-shirt and black skinny jeans. His silver pointy boots sparkled and morphed into black stilettos. Vince opened his eyes. They had changed to be the same as the Princess's, except with thin red coils, rising and falling around the pupil. He was lowered to the floor.

"Ok, now that's done, allow me to introduce myself." She smiled. "I am Rosalie, the Dark Princess of the Sky, and now you are my accomplice. What's your name?"

"Vince."

"Hmm, how about something different? What would you _like _to be called?"

"Um…"

"How about Draco?"

"Draco Oblivion"

"Ok, Draco Oblivion is your name from now on."

"Cool. What do I have to do?"

"I don't know, help me in my daily-ness?" Rosalie smiled at him again, her silver teeth glinting.

"Sounds like fun." Vince (**I will still refer to him as Vince to avoid confusion**.) replied, running his fingers through his hair, which had gone flatter and longer during the transformation.

Rosalie walked over to him and gave him a hug. "Welcome to the family Draco."

Naboo had rushed into the living room as soon as he heard Howard shout. He had seen Vince disappear with the crows and Howard collapsing to the floor.

"Oh crap." He left the room and came hurrying back with bandages and antiseptic. He dabbed the antiseptic onto Howard's arm, which caused him to wake up abruptly.

"AAHH! That hurts!" He cried.

"Of course it does, it's antiseptic." Naboo replied. "As soon as I've got you sorted out, we have to do a tracking spell to find Vince."

"How long do tracking spells take?" Howard asked, mopping up some of his blood off of the floor with a tissue.

"About three days."

"We can't wait that long! We need to find Vince now!"

"We have to wait. There's no hurrying magic."

"Oh no. Vince is doomed." Howard hung his head. He didn't save Vince. Vince will probably be dead in three days.


	6. Scorpian Sweat

**I'd like to hear what the readers want to happen next, for my research. Please tell me in a PM or review!**

**Note: I own nothing apart from Rosalie, her story and the crows. Everything else belongs to Noel and Julian. :)**

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"So what do you do all day?" Vince asked Rosalie as they left for the study.

"Princess-y stuff, like spending an hour doing my hair and makeup, another hour choosing my outfit, then lazing about, eating sweets. I read a lot too." She answered, opening the door to the study. The room was floor-to-ceiling with books.

"I'm not much of a reader…" Vince said quietly, staring up in awe at the books.

"You haven't seen these books Draco. They will change our opinion on books. The illustrations are beautiful and the stories are breathtaking" She pulled one down from a shelf. It was entitled 'The Satin Spider' and it had an amazingly intricate colour drawing of a silver spider sewing on the front. "I love this one. Give it a read." She handed it to him.

"So why are you the _Dark_ Princess?" Vince asked, sitting in a comfortable chair next to the bookshelves.

"Partly because of the eyes and partly because of my mum." Rosalie explained, sitting down next to him. "My mum was evil, the Dark Queen. She killed anyone who got in the way, tortured the crows and she was horrible to my dad. One day, she left and never came back. She thought she was better than us."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Vince was slightly embarrassed.

"It's ok. She was a vile woman. Try reading that book, it's magnificent." Rosalie got up and went round the corner of the bookshelves. Vince opened the book and, after the first sentence, he was immediately immersed. After about five minutes, he heard soft violin being played. It was playing perfect background music for the story. The music got louder so Vince looked up to see where it was coming from. It was Rosalie. She had come back with the violin.

"Sorry, is it distracting?" She asked, stopping.

"No, no it's really nice." Vince put the book down. "Where did you learn how to play?"

"I just picked it up."

"How old are you? Just out of interest." Vince enquired.

"Well, I've been around for hundreds of years up here, but I'm only nineteen. Does that make sense?"

"No."

"Well, I've been in human folklore for hundreds of years but people age differently up here. I think it's two years here to one hundred years on Earth, like delayed ageing. You'll age at that rate now as well." Rosalie explained.

"Cool, that's genius!" Vince smiled. "I think I'm gonna enjoy living here."

***

Back on Earth, Naboo was concocting the tracking spell while Howard read about the Dark Princess of the Sky.

"Naboo, I think this is important." Naboo put down the powdered unicorn horn he was holding and went over to Howard.

"What is it?"

"It says here that 'Once the Dark Princess finds The Special One, (Draco Oblivion), he and she will live together happily and she will capture no more'. Do you think that might mean Vince?"

"It says the Special One is called Draco Oblivion, not Vince Noir. She should give him back since it's not him." Naboo explained.

"I want to do the tracking spell anyway, just to be sure." Howard said, putting the book down. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah, can you get me all of this stuff," Naboo handed Howard a long list. "From Boots please?"

"Why do you get most of your supplies from Boots?" Howard asked, taking the list.

"I don't know. It's what's in the spell book."

"Right. Won't be long." Howard scuttled out of the shop like a hurried beetle.

It was a Saturday afternoon, so Dalston was full of people buying their alcohol supplies for the long night of partying ahead. Normally Vince would be among them, but not today. Today, he was god knows where, stolen by a dark princess. Howard walked into Boots and went to the medicine section, where Naboo always shopped. He always asked for the strangest things, like cough sweets that are one day away from their sell-by date, or hairspray that has a spot of grit on it. Because of this, it usually takes Howard ages to find everything, but today he had a motive. It took him less than ten minutes. He hurried home.

"I got the stuff!" He shouted as he entered the shop. Then he heard a smash and some shaman cursing. He ran upstairs.

"What happened?" He asked worriedly.

"You made me jump and drop my vial! I've run out of scorpion sweat, and that stuff is hard to come by!!" Naboo was livid. "It's gonna take me about two days to get more of it, so we can't do the spell yet!"

Howard gave himself a Chinese burn out of frustration. "Why am I such an idiot?" He asked himself, but Naboo answered. "'Cos you have very little working brain cells. It's probably better if you _don't _help."

Back up in the castle, Vince was deep in conversation with Rosalie. They were talking about friends.

"When my dad was still alive, there was a huge town not too far away. There were loads of people there." Rosalie told Vince. "But, when he died, it was like they died too. They never came to visit the castle again, because they thought it was deserted. The crows were my only friends until you came along."

"Until I was kidnapped you mean." Vince corrected.

"Well, yeah. What kind of friends do you have down on Earth?"

"I was friends with a jazz freak, a gorilla and a shaman." Vince told her. "The jazz freak, Howard, was my best friend, had been since school."

"Why are you talking about them in the past tense, like they're not still your friends?" One of the crows asked.

"'Cos if they were still my friends, they would have come to find me by now. The shaman, Naboo, always comes up with a way to find me or Howard when we're kidnapped, or when we go missing. It's like they don't care." Vince felt a tear rolling down his cheek.

"I'm sure they do." Rosalie assured him. "If they're your friends. They've probably just been sidetracked."

"You're right. Rosalie, if they do come to find me, can they stay here?"

"Only one human's mentioned in the prophecy, Rosalie," A crow whispered urgently in her ear. "If you incorporate others, it may become void!"

"You're right," She hissed back. "But if I don't transform them, it should be fine." Then she said to Vince. "Yeah, that would be fine."

"Thanks Rosalie! You're a great princess!" Vince cried, giving her a big hug.


	7. Realisation All Round

**This is quite a long chapter, but it's an important one! Thank you for reading this until now, I'm very happy with this fanfic.**

**Note: I own nothing apart from Rosalie and her story. Everything else belongs to Barratt & Fielding.**

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The sun was just starting to set when Vince and Rosalie finished their pudding of strawberries and cream.

"Mm, thanks Rosalie, that was really tasty!" Vince wiped dregs of cream away from his pale face.

"No problem." Rosalie glanced out of the window. "Oh, quick! The sun's setting! You don't want to miss that!" she hurried him out to the back garden.

They sat on a small wooden bench by the pond.

"Look." Rosalie pointed at the sun.

Vince's eyes widened. The view was breath-taking. The sun was setting in a cloudy sky, turning all of the clouds a blue-ish pink. The sky behind the clouds was a dark blue, turning navy as the sun sank down.

"Wow, that's gorgeous!" Vince exclaimed, as the sun lowered itself down to allow the moon to rise.

"I know. I come out here every day to watch it." Rosalie told Vince. He was shivering slightly.

"Are you cold?" She asked, as she saw him shiver.

"Just a bit." He replied.

Rosalie shuffled a bit closer to him and wrapped her arms round him, shrouding him slightly from the wind. "Better?"

"Yeah," Vince replied. His heart was beating faster, and he wasn't sure why. Then, he remembered something Howard said to him once, after he got dumped by some Camden girl.

"_Vince, when you were with her, did your heart beat faster than usual?"_

_He had shook his head, then Howard had said. "Then you weren't in love, 'cos that's what love feels like. To me anyway."_

He was a bit shocked. He was in love, and it felt a bit weird.

"Draco? Are you ok?" Rosalie asked him, feeling him tense.

"Yeah yeah." He replied. Rosalie looked up at his face.

"Are you sure? You look a bit…weird."

"Rosalie, I-" He wasn't really sure how to say it. Did he ask her if she loved him? Did he just hint? Or did he just kiss her and hope for the best? He decided to combine the first two.

"Rosalie, do you like me?" He asked, then regretted saying it. It sounded stupid.

"Uh, yeah, of course! I really like you. You're kind and clever and you can be quite funny. Yeah, I really really like you!" She replied, kind of confused.

"Do you love me?" Vince then asked her, not willing to keep his feelings buttoned up for any longer.

"Uh…" Rosalie looked at Vince's face. His expression was a mix of anxiousness and, it seemed to be, love. She felt her heartbeat quicken a beat or two. "Um…I-" But before she could answer, Vince had leant down and started kissing her.

"_If she pulls away, then I'll know she doesn't love me." _He said to himself, in his mind.

But she didn't pull away, so Vince knew he had made the right choice. He might have kept those feelings hidden if he had just waited for her answer.

After what seemed like a long time, they broke apart. Rosalie looked quite shocked, but happy.

"You're not one to keep your feelings hidden, I'm guessing?" She said to Vince, smiling at him.

"I'm a bit surprised at my own daringness, to be honest." He replied.

"You know what would be great? A big party to celebrate our love!" Rosalie hugged Vince tightly. "You know anyone?"

"I don't know about a big party, I think a small gathering would be better. I can invite Howard, Naboo and Bollo! Do you have any way of contacting them?" Vince asked.

"Um, yeah I think so. Do you know the address?" Rosalie got up and walked towards the pond.

"Most of it."

Rosalie rubbed her hands together and produced more of that glittery stuff she had transformed Vince with. "When I sprinkle this in, say the address."

Vince went over to the pond. "OK."

She sprinkled the glitter in and Vince said "Nabootique, Dalston, London, England."

After Naboo had told him not to help, Howard had gone down into the shop, got himself a glass of water and put his most gloomy jazz record on. Howard's Depression Ritual. He was on his seventh glass of water and his fifth jazz record when something weird happened.

"Howard? Howard, are you there?" Vince's voice rang loudly through the darkened shop. Howard looked around, but there was no one there.

"Vince?"

"It's not Vince anymore, I've changed my name. I'm Draco Oblivion now."

At the same time Howard recognised that name, he saw that Vince's face was clear in his glass of water. Terrified and confused, Howard accidentally knocked the glass of the surface. It smashed on the floor, and the water went everywhere. Now Vince's face was in the puddle, as clear as a mirror.

"What the hell…" Howard muttered.

"Howard you ball bag! Naboo shouted, having heard the smash. "What did you break?"

"J-Just a glass!" Howard responded.

"Well, clear it up!"

"Vince, where are you?" Howard asked quietly, so that Naboo wouldn't hear.

"Dunno, but I'm safe." Vince was grinning wider than Howard had seen him grin in a while.

"Why are you so happy?" Howard asked, sceptical of his friend's glee.

"That's what I wanted to tell you actually. Where's Naboo?" Howard noticed Vince's eyes.

"What the hell happened to your eyes?"

"I'll explain in a minute, when Naboo's here."

"He's busy. Tell me and I'll pass it on."

"Ok, here goes." Vince took a deep breath. "When the crows stole me, they said something about The Special One, then they took me here, wherever here is. Then I met Rosalie." He beckoned for someone to come, and Rosalie appeared in the puddle. "She transformed me, not much or anything, just my eyes, hair and clothes. When I asked her why she said it was something to do with a prophecy she doesn't know. Then I changed my name to Draco Oblivion. We bonded pretty quickly. She's got this amazing library with brilliant books. She's pretty brilliant herself." He looked adoringly at Rosalie. Howard was quite sure that he'd guessed the news, but he kept quiet.

"Anyway, it's brilliant here. You only age one year for every 200 up here. Yeah, it's great. Then, at sunset, Rosalie took me into the garden to watch the sun go down. It was gorgeous, you would have probably done a poem about it. Yeah, then, well, we sort of fell for each other."

"It was dead romantic," Rosalie added. "Kissing in the sunset, like something you'd see in one of them romance films."

"And we were wondering if you and Naboo would like to come up here and celebrate our love?"

Howard just sat there, speechless. He knew that he should be pleased for his mate, happy that he's safe, but he just felt…jealous, and he wasn't sure why.

"I'm…pleased for you. Congratulations." Howard tried to look pleased but he must have failed, because Vince looked confused.

"What's with that answer? I'm not some relative you hardly know that's getting married. I'm your best friend and you just look…miserable." Vince stared at Howard critically for a second, then grinned widely. "Oh, I get it. You're jealous, aren't you?"

Howard was shocked. How did he guess? Vince carried on "Well tough. Rosalie's all mine. You can come and visit as long as you don't hit on her, 'cos it' embarrassing when you do that."

Rosalie grinned. "You jump to conclusions too quickly. I bet he's just finding all this information hard to take in." She hugged Vince tightly. And they kissed.

When he saw that, Howard felt fury, paired with jealousy, rising up in his chest like magma in a volcano, but he quelled it.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm a bit, overcome that's all." He thought about forcing a smile, but thought it might look like a grimace.

"Cool, can you tell Naboo about the invitation?" Vince asked, smiling happily.

"Yeah, I will." Howard assured him. "How do we contact you?"

"Not sure. We'll contact you tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok. I'm glad that you're still alive. Speak to you tomorrow."

Vince whispered something to Rosalie, and she nodded, then Vince said. "Howard? Can you pass my straighteners through the portal? Rosalie says it should work."

"Ok, I'll go and get them."

Howard raced upstairs and into Naboo's room. "Naboo, Vince is safe."

Naboo jumped and nearly dropped his crystal ball. "How do you know?"

"The Dark Princess opened a portal for him. They've fallen in love." Howard heard bitterness in his voice.

"That's not good." Naboo looked into his crystal ball.

"Why not?"

"'Cos she's the _Dark _Princess. That can't be good." A faint, blurry image of Vince and Rosalie staring into a pond came into view, but it flickered and disappeared almost immediately.

"I have to take his straighteners down to him. Apparently, things can go through the portal."

Naboo looked at Howard incredulously. "You can go through it? Then why didn't you grab him?"

"Uh…Didn't think of it."

"Halfwit. Here's the plan…"


	8. Broken Glass

**Sorry this chapter's a bit short. Many thanks to my reviewers, for taking time to read and review my work. :)**

**Note: Only Rosalie is mine, everyone else belongs to the Boosh.**

* * *

Howard walked downstairs with the straighteners, going over the plan in his head.

"You took your time Howard! I'd almost given up hope!" Vince told him from the puddle-portal.

"Yeah, well it's impossible to find anything in your room. It's a pigsty." As Howard distracted them, Naboo ran to the other side of the portal in wait.

"Did you find my straighteners?" Vince asked, oblivious to Naboo's entrance.

"Yeah, here they are." Howard held them out for him.

When Vince reached out to grab them, Naboo and Howard reached into the portal, grabbed Vince's arm, and tried to pull him out, but Vince grabbed Rosalie's hand and pulled her with him. They all fell in a heap on the shop floor, Howard and Naboo triumphant, Vince and Rosalie confused. Before they could re-enter the portal, Howard mopped it up.

"Howard, Naboo, what the hell are you doing?" Vince asked angrily, brushing the dust off of his clothes, while Rosalie did the same.

"We weren't gonna let _her _steal you." Howard said, gesturing towards Rosalie, who looked nonplussed.

"What's wrong with me?" She looked at them enquiringly.

"One: You kidnapped Vince," Howard started.

"Draco."

"Whatever. Two: You're the _Dark _Princess. There must be something you're not telling him." Rosalie opened her mouth to argue, but Howard gestured to her to keep quiet.

"And three: You've obviously seduced him." Howard finished.

"What?! No I haven't! He kissed me first, Draco, tell him!" Rosalie nudged his arm.

"I kissed her first. I started it, so if you're gonna moan at anyone, moan at me."

Before Howard could start moaning at Vince, Naboo stepped in. "Look, if you really are serious about each other, then you can be together. All I ask is that you live and work here."

"But we don't want to leave Rosalie's lovely castle!" Vince complained. "The crows are nice, the books are cool, and you only age 1 year for every 200!"

"Look, either you both stay here, or one of you can go back." Naboo told them sternly.

Vince and Rosalie discussed this in the corner for a minute. "This might be the prophecy." Rosalie suggested.

"Or it might just be my blackmailing friends." Vince countered bitterly.

"You can go back if you want, and I'll stay here." Rosalie proposed.

"But I don't want to leave you in this loony bin!" Vince exclaimed, but not too loudly.

"We both have to stay here to be together." Rosalie reminded him.

"Then that's the solution."

They went back over to Howard, who looked quite anxious about Vince's answer, and Naboo.

"We've decided that we're both gonna stay."

"Great. Now Howard, go and put my potion ingredients away, Vince, I'm changing your name back to Vince Noir by the way, you go and sort out Rosalie's sleeping arrangements and Rosalie, you clean up this broken glass." Naboo instructed, then he went out the front door, probably on shaman business.

"Can't I do the glass?" Vince asked.

"No, Naboo's word is final. Get on with it Princess." Howard ordered, then he dragged Vince upstairs. "Come on, you've got a job to do."

When they were upstairs, Vince glared at Howard. "What the hell are you playing at?"

"She's evil! You deserve better." Howard told him.

"She's not evil! How dare you call her evil!" Vince stormed away from Howard like a teenager who'd just been scolded.

Howard cleared up Naboo's potion ingredients quickly, then snuck downstairs to have a word with Rosalie.


	9. The End

**The climax!**

**Note: I only own Rosalie.**

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Naboo arrived at the Board of Shaman to find Head Shaman sitting there alone, looking bored.

"Hey Dennis, where's everyone else?"

"Tony Harrison finally agreed to clear up the mess from that fateful Rodeo Night, but only if everyone else went with him to help."

"Right. I need some help." Naboo recounted all of the story so far. "…so I need to know what the prophecy is and what's going to happen."

Dennis thought for a minute. "Ah, I remember! The prophecy is that the Dark Princess and the Special One will meet, and fall in love. When this happens, the Princess gains incredibly strong and uncontrollable powers and, when prompted by extreme anger or sadness, these powers with erase all of the Special One's past, so that's you."

"Oh no, what do I do?" Naboo stayed calm but he was really worried inside.

"I've got a Protection Charm that you can use." Dennis reached under the huge wooden table, and pulled out a big wand with all manner of jewels embedded in the top.

"How Vince. How do I use it?" Naboo asked, taking the charm.

"Just hold it up when you're in danger, and it should do the rest. You'd better go before your shop gets destroyed."

Naboo ran towards the exit.

"You forgot your carpet!" Dennis shouted. Naboo came running back.

"The familiar's conference ends today, but the animals need another 48 hours to shake off their hangovers, so Bollo should be back soon." Dennis informed him as he left.

"Thanks." Naboo replied, before soaring away into the sky.

Back at the shop, Howard advanced slowly down the stairs, being careful not to make a noise. Rosalie was just clearing up the last shards of glass.

"Rosalie, I need to talk to you." Howard said, making her jump.

"Ah! Oh, it's just you. What's up?"

"It's about Vince." Howard looked thunderous. "I-"

"Oh, I get it. You don't think I'm good enough for him, don't you?" Rosalie glared at him. Howard couldn't control his fury and jealousy.

"That's right, I do. And d'you what else? I love him, more than you ever will." Howard resisted the urge to shout, in case Vince heard. "So I want you to stay away from him, you evil witch!"

"What?! How dare you! I am not a witch!"

A wind whipped up from nowhere, and blew around Rosalie. Her hair billowed around elegantly, like it was floating in water. Tiny fireworks were going off in her eyes, lasting only a second.

"I am Vince's girlfriend, _you _are just a hopeless friend who couldn't even find him when he was stolen! He doesn't need you, no one does." Rosalie's anger, and her fear that Vince would fall for Howard, were fuelling these words. "I'm not sure what's happening to me, but hopefully it will stop you from stealing Vince from me!"

Her fingertips started to glow. Then, Naboo rushed in, holding a wand. He ran to Howard's side, holding the wand aloft.

"Rosalie, you don't know what you're doing." Naboo tried to explain to her but she just shrieked like a banshee, and started to cry.

"I'm scared, and I don't know what's happening. What do I do?!"

_Vince heard Rosalie shriek._

"_I wonder what's happening?" He said to himself, and hurried downstairs._

Vince came down the stairs as Rosalie's fingertips started to glow brighter, like there were little stars on the ends of them. Naboo held the wand higher.

"W-what's going on?" Vince stuttered.

"I don't know." Howard replied.

Suddenly, ten jets of scarlet magic beamed out of Rosalie's fingers. Just as they were about to hit Howard and Naboo, the wand glowed and reflected the magic. The beams then hit Rosalie. She fell to the floor.

"NO!" Vince ran to her side. "Rosalie, Rosalie, look at me! Don't die, please!" Tears were running down his cheeks. Rosalie's eyes fluttered as she strained to look at him.

"I'm…sorry Vince. It's the…prophecy. I can't stop it." Vince could see the life force draining from her face.

"Rosalie! Don't leave me!! Please!"

Vince's eyes were flickering between black and blue, but no one noticed.

Rosalie tried to look at him again, but her eyes fluttered, then shut.

"NO! Rosalie! Wake up! Rosalie!" Vince shook her lifeless body, sobbing uncontrollably. Naboo and Howard just stood and watched. Howard moved to comfort Vince, but he swatted him away angrily, tears still glittering in his eyes, which were now back to blue.

"Keep away from me! You, you both did this to her! You killed her! Rosalie!!"

Suddenly, tiny cracks appeared across Rosalie's face. Vince backed away slightly. Her face turned black, and then she disintegrated into fine glitter. About half of it swirled upwards, to the sky. The other half then, in a quick whirlwind, formed a burgundy rose with a jet-black stalk. Vince touched it gently. It didn't fall apart, so he picked it up. He walked slowly towards the stairs.

"I'm never speaking to you again. I hate you for what you did." He told Howard and Naboo darkly as he passed them.

"Vince-" Howard started to follow him, but Naboo stopped him. "Leave him. We just killed his girlfriend, don't make it worse."

"The man I love hates me, and will probably never forgive me. It doesn't get worse." Howard sank to the floor, head in hands.


	10. Epilogue: Grin and Bear It

**Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed to give me the will to continue! I hope you enjoyed it:)**

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_1 Month Later_

Howard knocked on the bedroom door. He hadn't been in there for a month, as Vince had the door locked.

"Vince?"

"Read the sign." Came the disgruntled reply.

Howard looked at the door. Vince had carved "GeT StuFFeD!" into the door in spiky letters.

"Vince, how are you getting food and water?" Howard shouted through the door.

"I'm not. I'm starving myself to death. Now GET STUFFED!"

Inside the room, Vince had spent the last month looking at the burgundy rose, dressed in black and red. In reality, he was not starving himself. Rosalie's crows were bringing him food and drink. With no one else to come to, they came to Vince. They were also providing him with company so he didn't go mad.

Howard was having to sleep on the sofa since Vince had entered his 'mourning period', and he was worried about Vince's health, physically and mentally.

Howard was trying to put Vince's wellbeing before his feelings for Vince, but it was hard. Howard decided to 'grin and bear it'.


End file.
